New year Winter Fishing Report

This winter the fishing and weather has been nothing short of spectacular. Most of my days out on the water I have spent fishing in Everglades National Park aboard my Chittum Islamorada 18. The ride from Islamorada where I primarily launch is a rather short ride to great fishing in the Everglades and it also gives you the option to fish for species such as Bonefish,Permit or baby Tarpon this time of year on the way back from the Everglades.

On the colder windier days we spend most of our time working shrimp on jig heads in the channels for species like Redfish and Snook. We also encounter Black Drum and trout to add to the fun. There have been some days recently where we have caught record numbers of redfish and snook and I haven’t experienced fishing this good in many years. Even out to the east I am finding a great number of small Redfish and nice Snook along the many islands in the Everglades. I expect in the next year a lot of these redfish are going to mature and are going to primarily feed up on the flats in between Islamorada and Flamingo. The future is Bright!

Ive also had some incredible sight fishing up on the flats for Snook when the winds are light and the clouds aren’t in the way, its a Fly Fishermans paradise. I remember one day about a month or so back where we did not stop casting to Snook, Tarpon and Redfish for 2 hours up on a skinny flat near Flamingo.

Ive had a couple trips out on my 24ft Islamorada Boatworks Morada 24 recently. We have spent a couple days out in the Gulf and the Cobia fishing was solid. We also have gotten into a great snapper and grouper bite out there along with Spanish Mackerel and Triple Tail which are one of my favorite species to eat. Some days we spent out on the patch reefs which is some of my absolute favorite fishing to do this time of year. We have caught some real nice Mutton Snapper up to 12lbs which fight amazing and are great table fare. Along with Mutton Snapper are other species of Snappers like Mangrove and Yellowtail Snapper. We haven’t caught many big Groupers out there on the patch reefs like I usually do but we are due for a couple nice Black, Gag or Red Groupers.

Overall the fishing is great and I have two boats that have you covered wether you would like to fish out of a skiff or a bay boat. From the Everglades to the Reef I have you covered and will do my best to show you the absolute best time you can have on the water. Feel free to give me a call and discuss your next trip and also don’t forget to book your Tarpon season days ASAP as they are filling up quick! Tight Lines!